Qualifications for Registration
To be eligible to register to vote in South Carolina, a person must meet the following qualifications:

Be a United States citizen

Be at least 18 years old on or before the next election

Be a resident in the county and polling precinct in which the elector offers to vote

Not be under a current court order declaring the elector mentally incompetent

Not be confined in any public prison resulting from a conviction of a crime

Not have been convicted of a felony or any offence against the election laws, unless the elector has served his entire sentence, including probation and parole time, or has received a pardon

There is no length of residency requirement in South Carolina in order to register to vote. You can register at any time.

You must be registered at least 30 days prior to any election in order to vote in that election. Registration by mail applications must be postmarked at least 30 days prior to that particular election to be eligible.

A person who is registered to vote according to law shall remain permanently registered and entitled to all rights and privileges of registration unless his name is removed from the registration list for cause.

Also, Social Security number is required by the S.C. Code of Laws and is used for internal purposes only.

Qualifications to Vote by Absentee Ballot
Any qualified elector who falls into one of the following categories is eligible to receive absentee ballots:

Students, their spouses and dependents residing with them.

Members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines, their spouses and dependents residing with them.

Persons serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations who are attached to and serving with the Armed Forces of the United States, their spouses and dependents residing with them.

Employment. (Working 7 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.)

Physically disabled persons.

Government employees, their spouses and dependents residing With them, who are out of their county of residence on election day.

Electors with a death or funeral in the family within a three day period prior to the election.

Persons on vacation.

Poll managers, certified poll watchers, county voter registration board members and staff, and county election commission members and staff working on election day.

Overseas citizens.

Persons attending sick or physically disabled persons.

Persons admitted to hospitals as emergency patients on the day of election or within- a four day period before the election.

Persons who will be serving as jurors in a state or federal court on election day.

Persons 65 years of age or older.

Persons confined to a jail or pre-trial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial.

Any elector wishing to vote by absentee ballot must apply to the County Voter Registration Board. Applications for absentee ballots can be submitted anytime during the calendar year in which the election is to be held in which the elector wishes to vote by absentee ballot. The registration board must receive completed application by 5:OO p.m., four days before the election if the ballot is to be mailed. However, any elector applying in person may apply until 5:oo p.m. on the day before the election.

If an elector is admitted to a hospital as an emergency patient on the day of election or within a four day period before the election, a member of the immediate family may obtain and complete an application, receive the ballot and deliver it personally to the patient who will vote it. That family member will then personally deliver the ballot back to the County Voter Registration Board. These ballots must be returned before closing of polls on election day.

The absentee ballot application form may be requested by the voter himself, a member of his/her immediate family or by the authorized representative of voter. The voter or a member of his immediate family may request the application in person, by telephone or by mail. A voter's authorized representative must request an absentee ballot application in person or by mail only, and must himself be a registered voter and must sign an oath to the effect that he fits the statutory definition of such a representative.

Authorized representatives are registered electors who, with a voter's permission, act for a voter unable to go to the polls because of illness or disability resulting in his confinement in a hospital, sanitarium, nursing home, or place of residence; or a voter unable because of physical disability to go to his polling place, or because of such disability unable to vote at his polling place due to existing architectural barriers which deny him physical access to the polling place, voting booth or voting apparatus.

A candidate or member of a candidate's paid campaign staff, including volunteers reimbursed for time expended on campaign activity, may not request an absentee ballot application for any person unless the person is a member of their immediate family.

For additional information on absentee balloting or to request an application for absentee ballot, please contact the County Voter Registration Board Office.